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The Eye
of Faith

by Ron
Rhodes

Shrouded
in a dense fog, a large steamer edged slowly forward off the
coast of Newfoundland, its foghorn crying out somber notes of
warning. The captain - near exhaustion from lack of sleep - was
startled by a gentle tap on his shoulder. He turned and found
himself face-to-face with an old man in his late seventies.

The old man said, "Captain, I have come to tell you that I must
be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon." (It was then Wednesday).
The captain pondered for a moment, and then snorted:
"Impossible." "Very well," the old man responded, "if your ship
can't take me, God will find some other means to take me. I
have never broken an engagement in fifty-seven years."

Lifting his weary hands in a gesture of despair, the captain
replied, "I would help if I could - but I am helpless."
Undaunted, the old man suggested, "Let's go down to the chart
room and pray." The captain raised his eyebrows in utter
disbelief, looking at the old man as if he had just escaped
from a lunatic asylum. "Do you know how dense the fog is?" the
captain demanded. The old man responded, "No, my eye is not on
the thickness of the fog but on the living God who controls
every circumstance of my life."

Against his better judgment, the captain accompanied the old
man to the chart room and kneeled with him in prayer. With
simple words a child might use, the old man prayed: "O Lord, if
it is consistent with thy will, please remove this fog in five
minutes. Thou knowest the engagement thou didst make for me in
Quebec on Saturday. I believe it is thy will."

The captain, a nominal Christian at best, thought it wise to
humor the old man and recite a short prayer. But before he was
able to utter a single word, he felt a tap on his shoulder. The
old man requested, "Don't pray, because you do not believe; and
as I believe God has already answered, there is no need for you
to pray." The captain's mouth dropped open. Then the old man
explained: "Captain I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years
and there has never been a single day that I have failed to
gain an audience with the King. Get up, captain, and open the
door, and you will find the fog is gone." The captain did as he
was requested, and was astonished to find that the fog had
indeed disappeared.

The captain later testified that his encounter with the aged
George Muller completely revolutionized his Christian life. He
had seen with his own eyes that Muller's God was the true and
living God of the Bible. He had seen incredible power flow from
a frail old man. . . a power rooted in simple childlike faith
in God.1

Ray Stedman once delivered a sermon on Jeremiah in which he
said: "Faith has an apparent ridiculousness about it. You are
not acting by faith if you are doing what everyone around you
is doing. Faith always appears to defy the circumstances. It
constitutes a risk and a venture."2

This is the kind of faith George Muller demonstrated decade
after decade in his long and fruitful life. During the final
year of his earthly sojourn, he wrote that his faith had been
increasing over the years little by little, but he emphatically
insisted that there was nothing unique about him or his faith.
He believed that a life of trust was open to virtually all of
God's children if only they would endure when trials came
instead of giving up. It was this kind of faith that enabled
Muller to enjoy the Lord on a non-stop basis, regardless of the
punches life threw his way.

Perceiving
Unseen Realities

Scientists tell us
that the earth is spinning on its axis at a speed of over 1000
miles per hour at this very moment. Yet we have no sensation of
motion. At the same time, the earth is rotating around the sun
at a speed of 66,000 miles per hour. Do you feel anything? The
earth is moving at an incredible speed but we do not perceive
it. Einstein made this point by striking two consecutive blows
with his fist and saying, "Between those two strokes, we
traveled thirty miles." Incredible motion with no perception!
Yet we accept by faith that it is nevertheless true.

The Apostle Paul defines faith as "being sure of what we hope
for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). I like
John Wesley's paraphrase of this verse: "[Faith] is the
power to see into the world of spirits, into things invisible
and eternal. It is the power to understand those things which
are not perceived by worldly senses."3

Of course, the big problem for most of us is that we tend to
base everything on what our five senses tell us. And since the
spiritual world is not subject to any of these, our faith is
often weak and impotent. A. W. Tozer analyzes the problem this
way: "The world of sense intrudes upon our attention day and
night for the whole of our lifetime. It is clamorous, insistent
and self-demonstrating. It does not appeal to our faith; it is
here, assaulting our five senses, demanding to be accepted as
real and final. But sin has so clouded the lenses of our hearts
that we cannot see that other reality, the City of God, shining
around us. The world of sense triumphs."4

The eye of faith, however, perceives this unseen reality. Tozer
is right when he says that "a spiritual kingdom lies all about
us, enclosing us, embracing us, altogether within reach of our
inner selves, waiting for us to recognize it. God Himself is
here waiting our response to His Presence. This eternal world
will come alive to us the moment we begin to reckon upon its
reality."5

Do you remember the story of Elisha in 2 Kings 6:8-23? Elisha
found himself in a situation where he was completely surrounded
by enemy troops, yet he remained calm and relaxed. His servant,
however, must have been climbing the walls at the sight of this
hostile army with vicious-looking warriors and innumerable
battle-chariots on every side.

Undaunted, Elisha said to him: "Don't be afraid. Those who are
with us are more than those who are with them" (2 Kings 6:16).
Elisha then prayed to God, "'O Lord, open his eyes so he may
see.' Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked
and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all
around Elisha" (2 Kings 6:17). God was protecting Elisha and
his servant with a whole army of magnificent angelic
beings!

The reason Elisha never let his feathers get ruffled was
because he was "sure of what he hoped for and certain of what
he did not see" (cf. Hebrews 11:1). Unlike many Christians
today, Elisha was not a slave to the visible and the
tangible.

George Muller was a man after Elisha's own heart. As his
autobiography informs us, he had many orphans under his care;
too many - in fact - for one man to financially support without
God's intervention. At the orphanage one morning the tables
were all set for breakfast, but the cupboard was completely
bare. There was no food! And there was no money! The children
were all standing around waiting for their breakfasts, and Mr.
Muller said to them, "Children, you know we must be in time for
school." He then lifted his head and prayed, "Dear Father, we
thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat."

Almost immediately after this, there was a knock at the door.
It was a local baker who said, "Mr. Muller, I could not sleep
last night. Somehow I felt you didn't have any bread for
breakfast, and the Lord wanted me to send you some. So I got up
at 2:00 am and baked some fresh bread and here it is." Mr.
Muller humbly thanked the baker and then offered praise to God
for providing so miraculously for him and the orphans.

Moments later there was a second knock at the door. It was the
local milkman whose milk wagon had just broken down in front of
Muller's orphanage. He offered all his milk to Muller and the
orphans so he could have his wagon hauled to the nearest repair
shop.6 Coincidence? No way!

Muller had a simple, childlike faith in a living God. He knew
beyond any doubt that an unseen spiritual world existed around
him. And in spite of what his physical senses told him (i.e.,
no food and no money), he was confident that God could be
trusted for all of his temporal needs.

Hope: The
Fuel of Faith

Paul tells us that
faith involves "being sure of what we hope for" (Hebrews 11:1).
In his classic Institutes of the Christian Religion, John
Calvin delineates for us how hope relates to faith: "Hope
refreshes faith, that it may not become weary. It sustains
faith to the final goal, that it may not fail in midcourse, or
even at the starting gate. In short, by unremitting renewing
and restoring, it invigorates faith again and again with
perseverance."7

One of my favorite Old Testament characters is Moses. His life
illustrates how hope can feed and sustain faith: "By faith
Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of
Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the
people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of
greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was
looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not
fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who
is invisible" (Hebrews 11:24-27).

Moses could have had immeasurable power, authority, and riches
if he had chosen to stay in Egypt. Yet he gave it all up
because of his faith in God. And his faith was nourished by his
hope of a future reward, a hope which gave him an eternal
perspective on life.

Was this kind of hope characteristic of George Muller's faith?
I am sure of it! I recently discovered that after Muller's
death, his son-in-law and successor in the ministry - James
Wright - disclosed that "the mysterious name of a generous
donor which had appeared on the Annual Reports for many years
as 'from a servant of the Lord Jesus who, constrained by the
love of Christ, seeks to lay up treasures in heaven,' was none
other than George Muller himself."8 Muller's future hope had
fanned his faith into a flame! Do you have a hope?

Faith in God
Alone

Faith is only as good
as the object of that faith. The story is told of a small boy
in England who was asked by a scientist to allow himself to be
lowered down the side of a cliff by a rope in order to recover
some important specimens. "We will pay a lot of money," said
the scientist. But the boy replied that he wasn't interested.
The scientist was persistent, however, and finally persuaded
the boy to do it. But only on one condition: that his father
would be the one to hold the ropes by which he would be
lowered. He felt safe going down the side of the cliff because
the object of his faith was his own father who had never let
him down.

Recall with me the story of David and Goliath. To the eye of
sense David had no earthly chance of conquering the mighty
giant who had been arrogantly defying the armies of Israel. But
David, looking at the situation through the eye of faith, could
perceive the unseen divine forces that were fighting on his
side.

Saul - who was blind to all of this - warned David: "You are
not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you
are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth"
(1 Samuel 17:33). But David asserted, "The Lord who delivered
me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will
deliver me from the hand of this Philistine" (1 Samuel 17:37).
Then when David came face-to-face with the giant warrior, he
declared: "This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll
strike you down. . . the battle is the Lord's, and he will give
all of you into our hands" (1 Samuel 17:46-47).

And the rest is history. Goliath lost the fight before it had
even begun. Why? Because the object of David's faith was a
mighty God who once declared: "Behold, I am the Lord, the God
of all flesh; is anything too difficult for me?" (Jeremiah
32:27). The object of David's faith spelled D-E-F-E-A-T for
Goliath.

In his book The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer commented: "Like
the eye which sees everything in front of it and never sees
itself, faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests
and pays no attention to itself at all. While we are looking at
God we do not see ourselves - blessed riddance."9 This was
David's secret. He payed no attention to his own weakness and
inability. His eye of faith was solely on his Deliverer.

This was also Hudson Taylor's secret. I recall that he once set
sail from Liverpool to China on a small sailing-ship, the
"Dumfries." When sailing to the north of New Guinea, the
captain of the Dumfries discovered that although a breeze would
usually spring up after sundown and last until dawn, there was
rarely any wind during the daylight hours. Not exactly what you
would call ideal sailing conditions!

On one particular day, the captain became noticeably anxious,
and when Hudson asked what was bothering him, he explained that
a strong undercurrent was pulling them towards some sunken
reefs. To make matters worse, there was no wind to give them
the power to withstand the undercurrent. All they could do,
said the captain, was to wait for the inevitable to happen.
"No," replied young Hudson, "there is one thing we have not
done yet - we have not prayed."10

There were three other spirit-filled believers aboard the ship,
and Hudson suggested that each of them retire to their cabins
and pray for a breeze. Hudson had prayed for just a few minutes
when he gained assurance that their prayers were answered.
"Without further ado he went up on deck and asked the first
officer ( a rank unbeliever) to set the sail to catch the
coming wind. The man nearly exploded at such an apparently
ridiculous suggestion - especially coming from this stripling
of a landlubber, who, to cap this farcical nonsense, was
religious."11 Yet Hudson persuaded him to give it a try. With a
curse in his mouth and contempt in his eyes, the first officer
gave the order and his men jumped to obey.

At that moment, the captain came on deck to see what all the
commotion was about. And he witnessed God's response to
Taylor's faith. "No sooner was the sail set than the
prayer-answering breeze filled it and the ship was soon pulling
away from the reef to the safety of the open sea."12

Taylor's attention was not on the weakness and inability of
puny man. His attention was not on uncontrollable circumstances
like the strong undercurrent and lack of wind. The object of
his faith was the all-powerful God of the Bible. Taylor
believed; God responded!

Conditioning
the Faith Muscle

I've always been
taught that faith is like a muscle. A muscle has to be
repeatedly stretched to its limit of endurance in order to
build more strength. Without increased stress in training, the
muscle will simply not grow. In the same way, faith must be
repeatedly tested to the limit of its endurance in order to
expand and develop. Very often, God allows His children to go
through trying experiences in order to develop this muscle.

George Muller put it this way: "God delights to increase the
faith [or condition the faith-muscle] of His children.
We ought, instead of wanting no trials before victory, no
exercise for patience, to be willing to take them from God's
hand as a means. I say - and say it deliberately - trials,
obstacles, difficulties, and sometimes defeats, are the very
food of faith."13

This principle is beautifully illustrated in the book of
Exodus. Following Israel's deliverance from Egypt, God first
led them to Marah - a place where they would have to trust God
to heal the water to make it drinkable - before leading them to
Elim, a gorgeous oasis with plenty of good water (Exodus
15:22-27). The important thing to observe is that God could
have bypassed Marah altogether and brought them directly to
Elim if He had wanted to. But - as is characteristic of God -
He purposefully led them through the route which would yield
maximum conditioning of their faith-muscles.

God also allows His children to confront obstacles and
difficulties in order to prove His sufficiency when they dare
to flex their faith-muscles. F. B. Meyer suggests that "very
often God allows our helplessness and failure to become
extraordinarily acute in order that His grace may have a larger
opportunity."14

This is illustrated for us in the historical account in 2
Chronicles 20 where the Moabites and Ammonites came to make war
on Jehoshaphat. In his prayer to God, Jehoshaphat said: "we
have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We
do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you" (2
Chronicles 20:12).

Jehoshaphat was helpless in the face of what seemed to the
physical eye to be sure defeat. Yet his eye of faith was not on
the problem but on God. The result? God promised: "Do not be
afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle
is not yours, but God's.. . . You will not have to fight this
battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the
deliverance the Lord will give you. . . Do not be afraid; do
not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord
will be with you" (2 Chronicles 20:15-17).

The rest is history. The Moabites and Ammonites were completely
destroyed the following day. God purposefully allowed this
situation to develop so that He could demonstrate His
sufficiency to Jehoshaphat. And as a result of this event,
Jehoshaphat's faith-muscle became even stronger.

I can't help but think of how God used this same basic strategy
with Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. Elisabeth had been feeling quite
ill for a time and went to see a doctor. Following her doctor
visit, she recalls: "We were informed that, according to
X-rays, I had an active case of tuberculosis. Knowing as well
as Jim did that he was called to the Indians of the jungle, I
felt that this news spelled the cancellation of our marriage
plans, for, even if I should recover, life in the jungle would
not be recommended."15

But Jim's attitude was unchanged. "If I had any plans," he
wrote in his journal, "they are not changed. I will marry her
in God's time, and it will be the very best for us, even if it
means waiting years. God has not led us this far to frustrate
us or turn us back, and He knows all about how to handle
T.B."16

"According to your faith be it unto you," Elisabeth later
exulted. "Jim's [faith] was rewarded - a week's further
tests showed nothing whatever wrong with my lung."17 God
seemingly allowed this event to transpire in order to
demonstrate His sufficiency to Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. Jim
flexed his faith-muscle; God moved into action.

Faith and
the Word of God

John Calvin once said
that "we must be reminded that there is a permanent
relationship between faith and the Word. [God] could
not separate one from the other any more than we could separate
the rays from the sun from which they come."18 Calvin assures
his readers that God's Word "is the basis whereby faith is
supported and sustained; if it turns away from the Word, it
falls. Therefore, take away the Word and no faith will then
remain."19

Calvin recognized that the New Testament writers were adamant
on this issue. John's Gospel tells us that "these things have
been written that you may believe. . ." (John 20:31). Paul
tells us that "faith comes from hearing the message, and the
message is heard through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). If
someone should ask, "How can I increase my faith?" the answer
is: SATURATE YOUR MIND WITH GOD'S WORD.

We have looked at several inspiring examples of how George
Muller's faith reaped incredible results. It is no surprise
that Muller sees a cause and effect relationship between the
Word of God and faith. Based on what he has learned over the
years, he offers two pieces of advice for Christians who want
to see powerful results from their faith.

First, since true faith is solidly anchored upon Scriptural
facts, we must not allow ourselves to be influenced by
impressions. "Impressions have neither one thing nor the other
to do with faith," says Muller. "Faith has to do with the Word
of God. It is not impressions, strong or weak, which will make
the difference. We have to do with the Written Word and not
ourselves or impressions."20

And second, we must beware of letting probabilities hinder our
faith. Muller warns: "Many people are willing to believe
regarding those things that seem probable to them. Faith has
nothing to do with probabilities. The province of faith begins
where probabilities cease and sight and sense fail. Appearances
are not to be taken into account. The question is - whether God
has spoken it in His Word."21

So what does all of this boil down to? Perhaps Miles Stanford
sums it up best when he says that "there can be no
steadfastness [in faith] apart from immovable facts."22
And these "immovable facts" are found in God's unchanging Word.
Regardless of how impressions and probabilities relentlessly
assault the physical eye, the immovable facts contained in
Scripture keep the eye of faith in proper focus.

Mark it down! Without a regular feeding on God's Word, your
faith will shrivel up like a dead leaf and blow away in the
wind of adversity.

The
Faith-Joy Connection

Those who have been
mightily used by God down through the centuries have
consistently testified to the close connection between faith
and joy. Martin Luther said that "a Christian who possesses
faith in God does everything with liberty and joy; while the
man who is not at one with God is full of care and kept in
bondage."23 John Wesley commented that "with faith comes. . .
the fulfillment of the promise of holiness and happiness."24
German writer Erich Sauer proclaimed that "holy joy, heavenly
nature, and everlasting glory is our blessed lot where faith in
the Crucified One is the true possession of our heart and the
center of our life."25 Missionary Jim Elliot wrote in his
journal that "joy and peace can only come in believing."26 The
verdict is unanimous: the life of faith is a life of joy.

Of course, this should not surprise us since it is the clear
teaching of Scripture. When Paul and Silas were thrown in jail
in Philippi, for example, they sang praises to God as they
flexed their faith-muscles. They even managed to lead the
jailer to faith in Christ, after which "the jailer brought them
into his house and sat a meal before them; he was filled with
joy because he had come to believe in God - he and his whole
family" (Acts 16:34).

Paul later prayed that this kind of joy would be a reality in
the lives of the Roman Christians: "May the God of hope fill
you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may
overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans
15:13).

Some time after this, Paul assured the Philippian believers: "I
know that I shall remain and stay by you all, to promote your
progress and joy in believing" (Philippians 1:25). Paul
apparently considered faith and joy inseparable!

John Bunyan, one of the most influential authors of the
seventeenth century, was convinced that Paul was right on
target. Bunyan had been unfairly imprisoned for twelve years
for preaching God's Word. Declining to be freed on the
condition that he no longer preach, his famous reply was: "If I
am freed today I will preach tomorrow."27 It was during his
long imprisonment that he wrote his classic book Pilgrim's
Progress.

Among the virtuous characters in this allegorical book are
Christian, Faithful, Goodwill, Evangelist, and Charity. Less
virtuous characters include Worldly, Formalist, Hypocrisy,
Timorous, Ignorance, and Great Despair. At an important
juncture in the book, Faithful made the statement that
"according to the strength of one's faith in Him [God],
one will have joy and peace."28 Faithful's statement is no
doubt a reflection of what John Bunyan had discovered to be
true in his own experience - even when he was in jail. The
faith-life is a joyful life.

How is it with you? Is your joy in life 'running on empty'? If
so, why not take to heart the advice of Hannah Whitall Smith,
who in 1870 wrote: "Trust in Him now for everything, and see if
He does not do for you exceeding abundantly, above all that you
could ever have asked or even thought, not according to your
power or capacity, but according to His own mighty power,
working in you all the good pleasure of His most blessed
will."29 Selah!